soft fade Switchback Indicators

droo · Postby **droo** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:47 pm

Recenty just finished a conversion i've been wanting to do since i got my roadster and wanted to share/show what i've done:

The goal - to make the roadster look flatter and wider without changing the body, but by using lighting, to give the car some extra road presence and to be seen easier in a world of increasingly larger cars who's boot lids and door handles tower over my ragtop!

I've always been a fan of short height & wide lights on cars, and the recent Audis and Mercs with their wide strip LED indicators make me envious.

So, enough dreaming, and more doing - thank god for eBay, a love of electronics and a bit more time.
I know the finished product wont be greeted well by all, and i dont mind, i did this for me : )

Switchback controller circuit - surprisingly simple with its components.

Installing LEDs. The big ones are 30,000mcd (0.5W output) white 10mm sized. Theres 20 of them arranged in a pattern i've chosen.
The smaller ones are 3mm 5,000mcd yellow LEDs, there are 80 of them being installed.

Progress in soldering the LEDs in.

Setting up the powerregs with heatsinks. I'm only running the regs at 50% of their rated load output. This helps reduce heat, and I had plenty spare to play with.

The regulators installed for the DRL.

All regulators installed. (fredo frog for the person who can spot the mistake i've made here! :lol:

Testing the LEDS for bridging/shorts and load testing the regulators.

The assemblies are placed in gutted smoked crystal indicator covers, and use the existing plugs for the parklight/indicators. It literally is plug and play.

The smoked covers helps to tone down the brightness of the running lights.
Day time, they're fine.
Night time, the DRL's (which are my parkers...) are too bright. I'll be making an intercept plugin headlight loom for it to switch the DRLs down a few watts.

The indicators are easily visible with the DRL parklights on and off.

The DRLs brightness immediately shunts down when the indicator is switched on, and fade back to full brightness after the indicator is off.

Click the pic to load the video

In the video, i've placed the camera in the path of the low beam lights, Even at full brightness IN the path of the light, the indicators are visible.

(yes the headlights are HIDs, have described them in another thread)

mazdarati · Postby **mazdarati** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:54 pm

Nice work dude! I'm keen to get something like that - saw the ones on ebay but wasn't overly tempted by them...just assuming they were low quality.

I've also been interested in lighting for my NB...

You've given me a good idea!

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:04 pm

they look great - well done.

are they bright enough when viewing further off centre? say, at 45deg?

droo · Postby **droo** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:44 pm

short answer - yes. : )

OurCognitiveSurplus · Postby **OurCognitiveSurplus** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:52 am

Super tidy - very nice work!

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:21 am

definitely good work and knowledge being applied. I too really like the idea of day time running lamps. You can of course buy a number of off the shelf lamps but in an NB it is very difficult to comply with the regulation on distance between the lamps. The NA looks a much easier proposition for dimensional compliance. One thing about oem dtrl' s is that they are designed to be seen oncoming but from the side they are not effective.

lee · Postby **lee** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:35 am

That is brilliant! How much do you think it cost in materials?

TieNN89 · Postby **TieNN89** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:41 am

That looks awesome!

I think if anything up the power on the indicators but otherwise I like it

Bizi · Postby **Bizi** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:56 am

Any way to make dark mx5s more visible in traffic is a plus.

Will you also consider led behind smoked or clear front side reflectors?

-alex · Postby **-alex** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:37 am

Fantastic idea, beautifully executed and looks sensational.
Props for unique idea!!

Bizi · Postby **Bizi** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:10 am

Did anyone get your 'fredo frog' for a correct guess about your error? Far right side of the pic, with the solder?

I didn't realise at first that this included the yellow LED/blinkers with the electronics. Can you put up a video of them in action?

droo · Postby **droo** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:42 pm

Theres a video attached to the last image in the first post.
Freddo frog error was kinda inconspicuous, but i'd had LED's power resistors going to earth of the regulator, and the reg's output wasnt going anywhere.. (i know, i'm a nerd.. chortle chortle snort snort)

The indicators are a little bit directional, comfortably visible off axis. Standing 20 meters ahead and 5 meters side, the indicators are aimed at eye height when almost standing upright -pretty much most modern cars drivers eye height. That said- they *are* plenty visible off that axis, and no different in overall brightness/noticeability then the standard globes. What the difference here is that there is much more contrast between them being on and being off against the tinted plastic, so actually *noticing* the light flashing on/off is much easier in daylight when compared with the light coloured background of the oem's fresnel assembly. : )

: )

As for the side repeaters/reflectors - i'm yet to check how much space is behind them in the quarter panels. If theres a 2" or wider gap, then I'd likely make a 2" wide light, but if it's a small 20c hole (like my previous hatch back had) i'll leave it alone. Could be intersting intercepting those corner lights for a car alarm?

Total cost in materials was under $200 inc loads of spares from ebay and the bulk of the purchase was a replacement soldering iron as my existing one was clapped out. 1500+ Leds (for this and some other projects, iron, stand, heatshrink, mosfet xsistors, power regs/heat sinks + bolt hardware, high wattage resistors, veroboards and black spray paint, + the price of the smoked indicator assemblies. Total time - 15-20 hours. Hardest part - getting the indicator assemblies gutted - and making reference points in the hardware so that the veroboards can align correctly/consistantly. Without that, the lighting would be crooked.

Still to waterproof them, been driving about now a few days to ensure they're operating without issue.

challenge 2: tail lights